Jan 26, 2014

Sailor Jerry Pin Up Magnets (part one)

We have been saving empty Sailor Jerry rum bottles for quite some time because of the awesome pin up girl art in the back of the labels. A bunch of empties even came with us on the move from Syracuse to NYC because both of us resolved to make something out of them at some point. That day finally came a few weeks ago when I suggested we mod podge the diner style napkin holder we have in the kitchen with some SJ pin ups. Deciding on what to permanently put them on was really what had kept us from making something out of them for awhile but then we had an aha! moment and realized we could make something without ever needing to commit to a single item! MAGNETS.

This post will be split up into two parts. How to remove the labels, and how to make them into magnets. Below you'll find instructions on how to remove the labels from the SJ bottles...

I've tried a couple of different methods to remove the labels off the SJ bottles but so far, this has by far been the most effective way to get the labels off without much damage to the art.

1- Fill a stovetop kettle and boil enough water to fill your bottles. I have a Bonavita kettle, which has a spout and it was easy to directly fill the bottles out of it but if you have a regular kettle, using a funnel should do the trick.

2- The heat from the hot water will loosen up the glue on the labels. Carefully peel them off from the corner inwards. If you hit a spot that isn't quite ready, start peeling another corner and pull from the other side.

Here you can see how well the label peels off. They tend to be a little difficult in the middle area, so be extra careful when peeling that part.

They won't all be perfect but practice certainly helps! The far left was the first one I tried to peel off. If you peel off a little or a lot of the background, don't worry! You'll be cutting the ladies out of the background so it won't matter but even if you decide to keep the background it gives the labels a vintage look :)

pin up labels!

You can do a multitude of things with these labels from collage art to ornaments and so much more. I chose to make mine into magnets for my fridge and diner-style napkin holder. They'll stick to anything that's metal so its nice to have the option of moving them around. We've got a a curtain up in the kitchen I made from some tattoo flash fabric so It all goes together quite nicely.